Facebook Email Address Change Incites Backlash

Facebook has managed to upset some of its customers yet again by changing all of its users’ default email addresses without permission.

Facebook has begun changing all users’ default contact details to @Facebook.com email addresses without asking for their permission beforehand, it has been uncovered, a move which has sparked a backlash from its social networkers.

“Facebook silently inserted themselves into the path of formerly-direct unencrypted communications from people who want to email me,” wrote blogger and Mozilla developer Gervase Markham, who was one of the first to discover the change and blasted the social network on his website. “In other contexts, this is known as a Man in the Middle (MITM) attack. What on earth do they think they are playing at?”

However, Facebook says that it made users aware of the change two months ago, suggesting that the backlash has come about purely because of media coverage.

“As we announced back in April, we’ve been updating addresses on Facebook to make them consistent across our site,” a Facebook spokesperson said.” In addition to everyone receiving an address, we’re also rolling out a new setting that gives people the choice to decide which addresses they want to show on their timelines.

“Ever since the launch of timeline, people have had the ability to control what posts they want to show or hide on their own timelines, and today we’re extending that to other information they post, starting with the Facebook address.”

The change hasn’t hit all Facebook accounts yet, but it’s expected to roll out to all within the next few weeks.